Automobile body construction



Jan. 23, 1934. E p, HARTRY 1,944,429 -AUTOMOBILE BODY CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Aug. 14, 1929 v2 sheets-sheet 1 INI "EN TOR.

fr! P Hartl?! B Y Jan. 23, 1934.

E. P. HARTRY AUTOMOBILE BODY CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Aug. 14 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 far/ p /fary ATTORNEYD Patented .J an. 23, 1934i UNITED STATES ATET OFFICE one-half to Minn.

Russell' Sabor, Minneapolis,

Application August 14, 19219, Serial No. 385,863 Renewed March 3, 1933 6 Claims.l (Cl. 296-28) My invention relates to improvements in automobile body construction and particularly to the construction of automobile closed bodies of permanent or convertible type.

My object is the provision of an automobile body of this character having front and rear seats for passengers and enclosing sidewalls, which body is of a distinctively unique type; is appreciably streamlined to reduce head resistance; provides a clear vision towards the rear for the driver over the rear fender on the same side of the body and along the outside of the rear portion of the side wall on the same side of the body; furnishes commodious seatingcapacity in o the front seat for three passengers and possesses other distinct and meritorious advantages.

Roadster and coupe bodies have heretofore been designed which provide comfortable seating capacity for Vthree persons in a single seat but such bodies are limited as to their maximum seating capacity while my improved body is, duev to its novel construction, adapted to carrythree persons in the front seat and also has Aa rear seat capable of carrying two or more persons, The front seat has a length substantially greater than the rear seat and extends beyond the substantially parallel side walls at the opposite ends of the rear seat, the rear side walls terminate at the rear of the front seat substantially inwardly v of the front side Walls which converge from the front seat toward the front of the body, and a suitable window is arranged at'the rear of the front seat on the drivers side at least, between the front side wall and the rear side wall, giving clear rear vision over the rear fender on the same side of the body. i Y

Other desirable features and advantages of my improved type of body will more fully appear from the following specification, appended claims -and accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a View taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2'.

front and rear fenders and 12 respectively, iront and rear seats 14 and 16 respectively, and front side walls 18 which converge from, the rear line oi the front seat 14 toward the front as shown particularly in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The windshield is shown as of the divided type, having two sections 20 which converge from the front side walls toward the center line of the body. Y

The rear side Walls 22 'are preferably substantially parallel and are placed between and within the inner line of the rear fenders 12. These rear side wallsterminate at the rear of the front seat substantially inwardly of the front side walls and of the ends of the 1 front seat. A wall portion including a window 24,'is provided preferably at eachend of the front seat between the front side wall and the rear side wall which affords au clear rear vision over the rear fender along theI outside of the rear'side wall.

The vertical support struts 26 and 27 forming the skeleton structure of the rear side Walls extend the entire height of said rear wall body por` tion and when the body is mounted upon the ordinary chassis frame 25, the body struts 26 and 27 are supported directly upon the horizontal chassis frame and a more rigid and substantial frame structure is provided. 'The usual wheel housing is eliminated on the ve ypassenger body and in its place is a simpler construction. y

The front and rear side walls are provided with the usual doors on opposite sides. The front seat is capable of easily accommodating three persons which is a decided advantage if only three people are travelling at one time. The driver is insureda clear vision toward the rear ,over the rear fender and outside of the rear side wall; The shape of the body is such that it is more ac curately streamlined than istrue of the conventional type now in usev and the transference of weight to the front seat promotes riding comfort of the body. The rear walls of the body being placed entirely within the fender line they are protected thereby. n Y l This particular type of bodyv reduces the re tarding air vacuum on the rear of thecar considerably over that of the conventional body design and, furthermore, due toV the parallel arrangement of the rear sides of the body between soI .to manufacture and the rear fenders the rear windows are adapted to be completely lowered.

Figs. 3 and 4 show a slightly modified construction. The rear side walls are identical with those disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 but the front side walls 18 are cut short somewhat, terminating forward of the back of the front seat, approximately opposite the forward extremity of the front seat back member.

The central side walls, 24', in this construction are somewhat wider than walls 24:y and extend diagonally inward tok meet the front ends of the rear side walls which terminate, as in Figs. 1 and 2, at the rear of the front seat member. This arrangement not only carries out in a more finished manner the streamline motif of the body design, but permits the centralside wallsizto carry larger windows and thereby enables` those in the front seat to have a wider rangeof rear vision on each side of the car and also provides a room-- ier entrance to the tonneau.

It will be noted that the vseat-ingarrangement of the present invention is reversed as-c0mpared with the ordinary sedan type of passengerifcar.; that is, the widest seat is in front, and the rear seat :and l:tonneau :are substantially narrower. Ordinarilythe carv is'narrow at ythe front ,and gradually widens toward the rear,.andfis widest at the rearto obtain a greater seating capacity. 'Ihegpresent invention provides a car body which isswidest-.at'a pointintermediate-of the front and rearfseats, and providesat this intermediate point for the seatingof-atleast-three passengers, with ample elbow room for the driver laterally-fand outwardlyfrom'the steeringiwheel. This isdevident byan inspection of Figure 1 whichshowsthe side of .the car'and door v-18 rearwardly divergent. The provision of v elbow room isv an important feature. The :present invention provides a ldesign whichis of the stream-line type.

.Another'great advantage is the provision; ofthe small window 24` directly to the rear -of thevdriver andign the lelbowroomiregion--so that hechas a clear .view of traic-,along-a line -that i l-ies 'Within the wheel base, in this instanceon a line-which passesover thewhole Width of the, fender. ,There is no fintention, howeven to be limited -to "the exact. construction shown in the d-rawingsfas long as clear yvision kpanel andfelbow roomfthereadiac ent ,is provided, and ,-:as :long as the f substantial stream-line `eiect. is c obtained ley-having .that portionpf the ,bodyin ywhich the frontseat-is arranged, .considerably wider than ythe ,rear tonneau. Y

It will be noted byinspection of -the drawings that thcfsideslof .therear tonneau are Vparallel with thelong ,axis of the body and liev at. thel inside 0f the Yfenders andbetween them, and that .they extend downwardly below the peaks of .the fenders. This allows the windows to be completely opened inasmuch as, in this instance, the framing is extended downwardly to or adjacent the level of the running boards. Inasmuch Yas the panelsof thevrear tonneaulie between the fenders, .a1-deep stamping operation is eliminated. `It must again be noted that the sills of the side -windowson the-rear tonneau extend to the base of thebody, .which construction lends itself to the DIQduction of a cheaper and neaterdesign, easier i stronger. Considerable joining andspecial formingof framing-elements iseliminatedvf1h elprovisionf ofwhat maybe-termed a drivers niche is an important feature, along with vthe clear .vision feature, that .is the Varrangement `'the front tonneau and rearwardly on a line subwhereby the line of vision lies substantially parallel with the side wall of the rear tonneau, (which side wall is substantially parallel with the long axis of the chassis) over an area including the innermost portion of the rear fender.

There is no intention to be limited to the exact construction, but only to the broad idea of providing any kind of construction whereby the width of the rear tonneau is substantially reduced over that of the front, and whereby the side walls of front vand rear tonneaus are connected in such manneriasato permit the placing of arear vision window so that the driver can have an unobstructed view at a point inwardly with respect' to stantially parallel with the axis of the chassis and over Atheinnermost margin of the rear fender.

The jogsor. recesses Aformed as the result of the -relation lof the front and rear side body portion tend to relieve orreduce air resistance. Apparently this reduction of resistance and the provision-ofthe 'window24'also results in a change 4ofdraft conditions in the rear passenger space :of ythe-.carrso that the draft upon the occupants (when windows 18 and 24 are open) is substantially reduced. l

What I :claiml is:

`l. An ,automobile bodyhaving a front eseatfa rear seat, front side walls/at .opposite1endsLof1the front seat'convergingl fromirear: toi`front,.rear.side 105 walls at opposite ends of. the rear seat terminating at .the -rear of the front Aseat 4substantially inwardly of "therends: thereof and. of :thef adjacent front :side walls and windows=rat the rear 'of #the front yseat at veach end between the front 'side 110 walls .andtherear sidewalls.

2. An. automobile body `having @front side walls diverging outwardly and rearwardly from'each side of the fwin'dshield;.substantially:parallel rea-r side walls kterminating at the rear `o'f the front 1x15 seat and -space'd vinwardlyrfrom the ends thereof, and Voppositely disposed vtransparency carrying central Iside :.walls extending `between lthe rear and frontren'ds: of saidrst mentioned-sidewalls.

:3. Anautomobile, including `front and rear 1:20 seats, V-andlside walls, the side walls at the rear seat -being Yspaced -apart a distance substantially less than'thefcorresponding walls at the 3front seat, and lateral wall portions connecting the side walls of theffront andrear bodylportions, at least .i325 one of the connecting portions having a window therein arranged so that the driver, when in driving position, can obtain an unobstructed view rearwardly.

' .4. An automobile, including a body having front 1.30 and rear seats, the sides of the body being rearwardly divergent from the steering wheel tothe frontseat, toiprovidearm room-in the regionof the seat, laterally and outwardly from thesteering wheel, the Ytransverse widthof the body at 1:35 the rear seat being substantially less than atfthe front seat to provide a jog, anda window arranged in the jog.

5. A closed automobile body having front-and rear passenger compartments Vbound within a MO single enclosure, the front compartment diverging from front to rear and having a greater width than the rear compartment, si'de walls'conforming with the front compartment diverging 'from front to rear, side walls conforming to the .rear 14.5 compartment and extending substantially parallel, intermediate side .wallsconnecting the side walls of the front compartment with the' side walls of the rear compartment, and windows :in said intermediate side walls.

having a width less than said inside dimension, and windows in the side walls of the rear passenger compartment adapted to be lowered completely between the supporting members of the rear passenger compartment and within the inside dimension of the rear wheels and to be raised to their closed position.

VEARL P. HAR'IRY` 

